Summers & Zim’s: The ‘Good-Natured Guys’

Summers & Zim’s: The ‘Good-Natured Guys’ for the past half-century

Joe Zimmerman, center, with a few of the staff at Summer’s & Zim’s, Inc. in Atglen.

Photo by Richard L. Gaw

By Richard L. Gaw

Kenny. Kevin. Hutch. Spencer. Tyler. Tukker. Jose. Ron. Russell. Scott. Kate. Doug.

To listen to Joe Zimmerman of Summers & Zim’s, Inc. talk about the company’s long-time staff is to hear each name spoken with a high degree of respect, so when he is asked what has kept Summers & Zim’s, Inc. in the higher echelon of plumbing, heating and HVAC companies in the Delaware Valley for more than 50 years, it doesn’t take long for Zimmerman to answer.

It’s our people, he said.

“The four qualities we look for are Honorable, Excellent, Gritty and Good-Natured,” he said. “Everyone who works here is either a friend or a neighbor. No one here is a stranger. We even have eight staff who each graduated from Solanco High School in the past several years. One of our recent hires is the Atglen postmaster’s son.

“When we are ready to hire someone, we put the word out to our staff. They will tell us, ‘They don’t know anything about plumbing or HVAC, but they are a quality person.’ That’s what we look for. Experience doesn’t matter, because we can teach them the business, but it’s more important to have an individual of integrity to begin that relationship with.”

In both slogan and business, Summers & Zims. Inc are “The Good Natured Guys,” and for reasons that extend far beyond installing and servicing plumbing, heating and air conditioning units. The words are all their on the company website. Warmhearted, friendly, amiable, neighborly, benevolent, kind, kindhearted, generous, unselfish, considerate, thoughtful, obliging, helpful, supportive, charitable, understanding, sympathetic, easygoing and accommodating.

“I was sitting at the Gap Diner waiting to interview a potential hire a few years ago, and he was running late,” Joe said. “I looked outside and saw him running around

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the parking lot helping a woman corral her dog that had gotten loose.

“Before leaving a customer’s house, our staff asks our customers, ‘Is there anything else I can do for you before I go?’ Once, a woman asked my son Jose to bring her cactuses in from the outdoors. Once he got them indoors, the woman began crying and said that the cactuses were her mother’s and told Jose that they would have frozen had they not been able to be brought inside.”

Treating staff and customers the right way

Summers & Zim’s Inc. traces its beginnings to 1930, when Summers Brothers Plumbing and Heating opened its doors in Gap. In 1950, Joe’s grandfather began Zim’s Sales and Service in Atglen. In 1973, Summers Brothers merged with Zim’s Sales and Service, forming Summers & Zim’s, Inc. – which was operated by Joe’s grandfather Lee Summers and his father Bud Zimmerman.

Growing up in the family business, Joe learned the trade and installed several systems. Over time, he moved to management, and in 1991, at the age of 26, he was asked to take over for his father who had collapsed in his office from internal bleeding. While Bud recovered in and out of hospitals for the next nine months, Joe began to pick up the pieces of the business.

He has been at the helm ever since, moving the company forward with a very simple philosophy: Treat your staff and your customers the right way, and it will be reciprocated.

During the scorching summer of 2020 – deep in the thicket of COVID-19 – the staff at Summers & Zim’s, Inc. were overloaded with work. Joe kept telling them, ‘There will be enough time to put your feet up later in the year.’

“In September, our employees were asked to come back for a meeting at the end of the day,” Joe said. “We called Moore’s Furniture in Downingtown and asked them to bring us a dozen samples of Lazy-Boy chairs, and there they were, waiting for the staff when they walked in. I asked each of them which chairs they liked the best, and at the end of the day, we sent them all home with the chair they liked the best.”

While keeping up with demands of public and innovations in the plumbing, heating and HVAC industry, Summers & Zim’s, Inc. has never forgotten that the fundamental mission of the company is to treat its customers like family. Over the past several years, the company has put several quality insurances that holds it accountable to the thousands of customers they serve every year: a Five-Point guarantee, a no lemons guarantee, a $500 no frustration guarantee, a home protection guarantee and a 100 percent money back guarantee.

“We even deliver Shoo-Fly pies to our customers,” Zimmerman said. “We always have new systems going into place every day, and it’s usually my responsibility to deliver all of the ductwork to the site. A few years ago, I found myself getting into the habit of stopping by McClures, picking up some pies and delivering them to our customers.’”

The owner of the bakery at the time was Doug Kauffman, who is now on the staff at Summers & Zim’s, Inc. “It occurred to me that we’re pretty good at taking young guys and teaching them HVAC, but maybe we need to teach them about responsibility and adulthood, as well,” Joe said. “I want the young men who work with us to grow up and become good fathers and responsible adults and citizens. When I told my son Ethan about my idea, he told me that we needed to hire Doug, because he is involved in youth ministry and wants to work with young people.” Kauffman now conducts a mentorship program with the staff that helps them develop life skills such as budgeting and long-tem investing, as well as encourages them to document their life goals, all in the hopes of finding ways to achieve them.

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‘Is there anything I can give you before you go?’

Perhaps at no other time did the connection between Summers & Zim’s, Inc. and the community it serves crystallize more than during Christmas in 2009. Joe was staying with his wife Tracey and their children at a family celebration near Lake Erie. At 2 a.m., he received a phone call from a friend, telling him that his house had just burned to the ground.

“When we pulled into our driveway, we say more than 50 people from the community there, helping to clean up and be there for support. In fact, Doug Kauffman was there, and asked me, ‘Is there anything I can give you before I go?’ He ended up giving me his winter coat.”

The next morning, Tracey met with Brian Campbell of Beiler-Campbell Real Estate at a model home that was being used to showcase new housing community. Campbell opened the front door and told Tracey, ‘Stay here as long as you want to.’ Soon after, one community member stopped by the company offices on his morning run and left a check in the amount of $500 for the Zimmerman family.

“We have always believed that there is more to this company than just installing air conditioners,” Joe said. “No matter how hard we all work, there will always be companies who will install more of them than we do. It doesn’t matter in the end, because we define ourselves not just by the quality of the work and service we provide, but by the fact that one of our staff is a girl’s softball coach, 15 of our staff are volunteer coaches for Upward Basketball and by others who serve as musical directors, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts leaders and Little League coaches.”

Summers & Zim’s, Inc. is located at 403 Valley Avenue in Atglen. To learn more, visit http://sumzim.com.

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